Defiance man sentenced in Lima tire-dumping scheme

LIMA — A Defiance man charged with complicity in the transportation and illegal dumping of scrap automobile tires within the city of Lima was sentenced Monday to two years of probation and was ordered to perform 40 hours of community service.

In December, Charles Farsht, 35, accepted a negotiated plea agreement from special prosecutor Ken Egbert, appointed by the Ohio Attorney General’s environmental enforcement division, for his role in the tire-dumping scheme.

Prosecutors said Farsht, along with Lima residents Jonathan White and John Schlesselman, aided and abetted Lima resident William Doug Gipson — who remains at large and for whom an arrest warrant has been issued — by illegally transporting and disposing of “at least 50” scrap tires in a vacant lot at the corner of Main and 12th Streets on the city’s south side.